


All This Time

by carpesidera



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology, Original Work
Genre: F/F, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Historically incorrect, Immortal Lesbians, LGBT, greek tragedy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2019-01-06 08:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12208002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpesidera/pseuds/carpesidera
Summary: Would you wait a thousand years just for one person?





	All This Time

‘How did you two met?’

The first thing you have to know is that this story starts a long time ago, when I was just 18 years old, in a forgotten city in Greece. Or better yet Ancient Greece. I was born to a monster of a man, the son of Hades they use to say and a simple woman who died before I could walk. My father was cruel but simple he thought only of trade, for both his business and his family. I was known to be quite beautiful but loud and emotional, two things you do not want in the perfect Greek woman. 

The first time I saw her I was with my father, he had just secured my hand in marriage to a wealthy merchant 20 years my senior. I was miserable and looking for an escape from my horrible future and then I saw her, she was beautiful and quiet. Hidden in bright cloth with only her eyes showing, she shone brighter than anyone in the crowded pavilion. We were not meant to look at her, that’s what my father said as he shoved my head to the other side. Breaking the eye contact I had for the briefest moment. My heart almost broke at the thought I was never to lay eyes on her again.

She disappeared from all our sights moments later, she was half carried into the Temple of Aphrodite. She was the daughter of the King, they say she appeared one day on the steps of his palace, a constant reminder of the Kings one night with the goddess Aphrodite herself. So once she came of age she was sent back to the goddess to be a priestess. An odd action by the king, as any daughter of a goddess could be sold for half a king's ransom.

For weeks her eyes shone in my dreams and every time I closed my eyes, I couldn’t sleep or eat or breathe without thinking of her. I was obsessed.

On the night before my own wedding, I wept for I knew that once I was shackled to my husband, the sinful thoughts of the Princess would be the end of me. If my husband found out I would be beaten or banished or hung from his doorway. While a man could do whatever or whoever he wished in Ancient greece, the very thought of two women together would mean instant death and an eternity in the worst parts of the underworld. 

So I ran to the temple, it was an irrational thought to run to where she would be and beg her for something. But as I ran to the steps I couldn’t go any further, what was I doing? Admitting sinful thoughts to the daughter of a goddess, a goddess of love nonetheless.

I started to weep, and scream, for both my future married to a brute and my stupid weak heart falling for a woman I didn’t even know. The sight I would have been to the passing strangers. I would have looked like a monster or weakling. Which at that moment I was. Till someone touched my shoulder.

A tanned hand with long fingers, jewels glistening from oversized rings, stroked my shoulder then touched my chin, bringing my face up.

It was her, and she was beautiful. Her golden eyes shone brightly and her face, was more stunning than I had ever imagined. High cheekbones and full lips painted red against her caramel skin.  
‘Come inside.’ Her voice was low and she looked around to see if anyone dared to approach us. She held out both hands and I took them greedily, stroking my shorter fingers against her wrists. I don’t think I blinked since the moment I looked up, my eyes trying to remember every aspect of her, from the golden cloth that covered her ebony hair, to her bare feet painted in coloured ochre.

I followed her inside, one hand still in hers.

The Temple was warm with the summers breeze whistling gently through, fires blazed in all the lanterns casting shadow in each direction. The princess sat down on step and with a gentle tug pulled me down next to her.

‘Do I know you?’ again she spoke quietly as if afraid even the shadows would hear her. I did not realise in that moment how often in my long life I would hear her say those four words.  
‘No, I don’t know you either.’ But i want to The last being left unsaid.

‘I came to pray to Aphrodite, to rid me of an unattainable love. And to grant me love to my husband.’  
She laughed, a sound that will forever be my favourite sound, it was high and long that took her breath away and mine.

‘The Goddess cannot take away love, that would be impossible because love is truly a gift she has appointed to you. and if you do not love your husband. Then you should pray to Hera and ask for her help.’  
‘But if the love I have is forbidden? If it is a sin against all gods present, past and future?’

‘Then you should pray to Persephone for guidance, she helps all who are stuck in love. After all her marriage is not one people would call sinless.’’ She looked up at one of the lanterns, silence fell between us and for a moment I thought she would send me away, ‘I saw you in the pavilion the other week, before I came here. You were with your father and wearing grey.’ I could barely hear her confession she spoke so slowly.

‘You wore Red with a gold diadem, and you looked so sad.’

She smiled at me and move her hand from mine and onto my knees, tracing unknown shapes against the cloth.

‘My name is Sephora.’ Finally, I knew her name, the Princess Sephora, the daughter of Aphrodite.  
‘Cayleigh, my name is Cayleigh.’ She smiled so brightly I felt like she was the sun shining down on all of Greece.

We sat in silence for hours, her head leaning on my shoulder. This was an act we would not dare to do in the daylight but as we sat with hands entwined and knees touching it was the closest thing to Elysium I had ever thought to be. I felt as if I had known her for years, that we had somehow in one evening aged 100 years side by side.

The sun rose and with the bright rays brought my wedding day. I jumped up quickly and startled my poor Sephora who had finally nodded off to sleep.

‘I have to go.’

‘Will you be back?’ the fear in her voice made my heart leap, I had brought happiness to this woman, a woman I strangely loved but she knew i was leaving to marry another. 

‘I will tell him I have to pray after the wedding, to bring us joy in the marriage bed and home. He can never deny my need to pray. I will be back before you know it.’ And without a thought my lips were on hers and I brought her in close. She tasted like strawberries and grapes. She pulled me closer, her hands getting tangled in my curly hair. My hands went south clinging to her body as if I was drowning. We broke apart, breathing heavily with stupid grins across each face. It might have been my wedding day but this moment was my birth.

We came apart at the right moment as another priestess entered the temple, ready to offer a gift to the goddess.

I gave Sephora a nod and made my way back to my father’s house, my head lighter than ever before. The woman I had been obsessed with felt the same. Maybe our union was blessed by Aphrodite after all.

I don’t really remember my wedding day, I remember kneeling on stone and promising my life to my husbands but over time his face has faded away, like many others, even know I try my best to remember but all that appears in my mind’s eye is a beard and large calloused hands.

I fled as soon as I could, swearing to him I would return to his side after I thanked Aphrodite and the gods, telling him I would enter his bed only after the approval of the gods. He wanted to come with me, but my father bless his simple mind thought only a woman should enter the goddess of Love's temple so I went alone.

I was absorbed in my own mind, thinking back to the night before, her touch, her kiss, her smile. I couldn’t rid Sephora from my mind as I practically ran through the streets to the temple. I knew she would be waiting. I knew I would have to make new excuses each day to see her, that the risk was high but after one night I was an addict and nothing would stop me.

I was so absorbed in my own mind that I did not realise what was happening, the nearby city run by a warring king had entered our city and had picked our largest temple to burn to the ground. Aphrodite’s temple.

I ran quicker once I heard the shouts and smelt the smoke. I can still smell the smoke in my nostrils to this day.

The grand white marble building, that stood 30 metres high was ablaze with flames. The heat hit you two blocks away and the screams were terrifying, echoing off buildings and I swear even the gods could hear them as they sat in Mount Olympus.

People were screaming and crying and then I heard it, ‘No one got out! The Priestesses are in there.’ Someone Exclaimed  
I didn’t think or wonder what happened all I did was run into the temple, I took the grand stairs two by two and ran straight into the fire. No thought of my own safety, I brought my wedding shroud around my mouth and eyes, the sheer clothe allowed me to see just a few metres in front but the further I went in, the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see anything.

I screamed her name till I couldn’t breathe, then I stumbled on something and fell to the floor, it was a body her body. Her golden eyes were open and her body half covered in horrible burns, the same burns that had started to form on my own body but the sight of her lifeless body took away any thought of my own pain.  
I laid down next to her my own will to live gone, stroking her hair out of her face and I stayed there till blackness took over.  
I was at peace, with my love.

Until I wasn’t, my eyes cracked open and the light blinded me as I tried to sit up.

‘Careful Dear Child.’

I forced my eyes open and took in the sight of the most impossibly beautiful woman I had ever seen, she had flawless glowing pale skin and red hair the colour of pomegranates. She stood over 6 feet tall and I will never forget the green dress she wore, it clung to her body like water.

‘Who are you?’ I grasped out, my throat burning from the fire.

‘I think you know, your dear love told you to come to me.’ She sat down next to me and I finally took in where I was, I was surrounded by green grass and flower all in bloom. There was no sign of the ancient city or the fire.

‘Persephone.’ She smiled and brought a hand up to my forehead, instantly my burning throat and burning pain over my body stopped.

‘I want to offer you a gift young Cayleigh, you died trying to save your love, an unconditional love but your love all the same.’

‘I died?’ I sounded stupid, and I wanted to slap myself the moment I said it out loud, of course I had died I ran into a fire to save Sephora, but I couldn’t.

‘Yes you did, as did Sephora. I want to tell you something, you are the granddaughter of my husbands, with his blood in your veins you can have another chance to save her. Or another hundred chances. Cayleigh I am offering you a chance at immortality with a catch as all gifts from gods have.’

I sat up straighter, I was dead but she could bring me back. Did I want to go back? Without Sephora? Back to my father and husband?

‘What is the catch your grace?’

‘Sephora is to be born again, and to die again. A prophecy was written at her birth that every life she lives will be cut short, painfully and just when she reaches true happiness, it is why she was sent to the temple to begin with. But a prophecy was written when you were born to, that one day you would stop her pain and save her. When you finally save her you will live out your days together, and die an old woman. But every life you live, every time you fail you will carry the scars of your failure with you. Your burns on your arm, side and face will remain till the day you die. Or you can come with me now, into the underworld and you can be at peace.’

She put an arm on my shoulder and let me think, I think she expected me to take a while because her other hand started to make a daisy chain from the surrounding flowers, but before she could link four flowers together I rose from the grass and stood over her.

‘I will save her,’ I said through clenched teeth, the pain of the burns returning, ‘I will not be late next time.’

Persephone nodded, ‘Alright in that case I think you should return home, you will not see Sephora for many more years but when you do you should be ready, this life you have chosen will not be easy.’

She tapped my shoulder and with a shock and a stumble I was standing in the now smoking ruins of the Temple.  
The bodies of the Priestesses had been taken away and I picked my way out of the rubble. The sun shone down and I saw in the crowd the worried face of my father and husband.

I pulled my shroud over my head and walked away from them.

I never stepped foot in that city again. And Persephone was right, it was many more years till I saw Sephora again, and I was not ready at all.

 

The barman leant back against the crowded bar, he looks almost in awe. But I knew better he was taking in the story and the crows behind me. Immortal bars are fun. Filled with people who had stories similar to mine or worse. They appeared for a handful of years before the owner would get bored and the doors would board up and everyone would disperse for another 50 years or so till the wind carries the news of another immortal bar.   
It’s almost like a conference for the royally screwed up.   
I don’t come to the bar often. I never have had a need to come and drown my sorrows. Normally i can do that in the comfort of my own home. But sometimes I need the comfort of strangers, a few thousand years is a long time to be alone.  
‘Did you find her again?’ The barmen spoke again this time leaning forward and looking me straight in the eyes.  
‘Yes over 100 more times from then to now.’  
‘What happened?’  
I lifted my head up, my hood slipping off my head and finally he saw my face. The scars from my burn was still there but sharing space with a hand full of scars, two new burns and one blind eye.  
‘I lost her, every time.’


End file.
